Everyone Active Brings Fitness and Festive Cheer to St. Albans and Harpenden

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Everyone Active Brings Fitness and Festive Cheer to St. Albans and Harpenden.

Mix Mornings with Iain Pritchard

In a lively conversation on Mix 92.6, representatives James McNulty and Kate Barton from Everyone Active shared insights into the range of fitness and cultural services the organization offers across St. Albans and Harpenden. As a national provider focused on enhancing local community wellness, Everyone Active is committed to helping residents engage in physical activity and cultural events that promote health, happiness, and social connection.

McNulty, who oversees local fitness facilities, emphasized Everyone Active’s mission of encouraging people to exercise for at least 30 minutes, five days a week—a goal aligned with national health recommendations. “Our focus is making exercise accessible and enjoyable,” McNulty explained, highlighting options such as the 18-hole golf course at Batchwood, padel courts, and a newly upgraded fitness suite at Westminster Lodge. Westminster Lodge offers everything from personal trainers and yoga studios to swimming lessons for all ages, reinforcing a culture where fitness and well-being go hand-in-hand.

Barton, who manages Everyone Theatres, highlighted the organization’s involvement in the cultural sphere, especially with the Auburn Arena in St. Albans and the Eric Morecambe Centre in Harpenden. The theatres host an array of performances for every age group—from children’s favourites like *The Very Hungry Caterpillar* to nostalgic events such as *Disco for Grown-Ups*. With a busy season ahead, Barton revealed the excitement surrounding upcoming Christmas pantomimes, including *Sleeping Beauty* at the Eric Morecambe Centre, starring Vicky Vivacious and a “fire-breathing dragon,” and *Cinderella* at the Alban Arena with actress Samantha Womack.

The holiday season, Barton shared, is particularly magical, as it brings families together and often serves as many children’s first experience of live theatre. Both theatres strive to create a welcoming environment for all, ensuring that every performance and visitor experience is memorable and meaningful.

Whether you’re new to fitness or looking for holiday entertainment, Everyone Active offers flexible membership options and pay-as-you-go rates, making it easier for everyone to join in. For those interested in the festive line-up, tickets for both pantomimes can be purchased online or at the theatres. This holiday season, Everyone Active aims to bring St. Albans and Harpenden communities together for fitness, fun, and festivities.

More about: Fitness, Theatre

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Mix 92.6 (00:00.242)
Mix 92.6 just gone six minutes past 11. Joining us in the Mix 92.6 studios now are James McNulty and Kate Barton. They are from Everyone Active. Now you might or you might not know Everyone Active but I’ll bet you’ve been in some of their places. Good morning both. Good morning. Morning. No, very very great pleasure to have you with us. Now James first of all explain to us what Everyone Active is and what you do around here. Yeah okay so we’re a national leisure provider.

with local communities at the heart of everything we do. And our mission is to get everybody exercising five days a week, up to 30 minutes. Wow. That’s… Is that kind of a national recommendation? It is, yeah. It’s a national recommendation and we feel that just keeping it at 30 minutes is enough to encourage people that it’s not too difficult to do that and they’ll benefit health-wise and socially from that.

Okay, and Kate you look after the sort of more cultural side. I do yeah, I do so I live in the land of theater land So which is a separate branch of kind of everyone out there So it’s with everyone active, but it’s now actually everyone theaters right and we’re growing a kind of portfolio of artistic institutions And you know running them and really supporting the community and putting on some cracking entertainment really

Yeah, and we’re going to talk about panto season in a bit too, aren’t we? No, we’re not. So, James, tell us a bit about the locations you’ve got in our area. What kind of things do you look after? Yeah, sure. So there’s a number of facilities across St Albans and Harpenden. We’ve got Batchwood, which has a fantastic 18-hole golf course.

and we’ve just recently introduced paddle courts, which is a hybrid of tennis and squash. Yeah, that’s become really popular really quickly, hasn’t it? It has, yeah. We’re really pleased with how it’s going and it’s a sport that can be played by families and people of all ages. So, yeah, really fantastic new sport. Yeah, okay. So you’ve got…

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You’ve got Batchwood there, Westminster Lodge, did we talk about that? Yeah, Westminster Lodge is, we’ve got 145 Station Gym, it’s a really large facility. That is big, isn’t it? It is, yeah, we’ve got a spa, hot yoga studio, 25 metre pool, and we do swimming lessons for adults, for children, for the whole community, so yeah, really fantastic facility.

And do you find there’s a big cross section of the community come into these facilities? Is it all sorts of people? Yeah, all sorts of people, all sorts of ages. And it’s not just the physical element, it’s the social element that kind of springs off it. So we find a lot of the people that come will have a coffee after in the bistro and just enjoy each other’s company.

So, you know, I’m old enough to remember when all you could really get at a swimming pool was out of a machine a sort of cup of supposedly tomato soup, but I’m not sure it really was. it’s really changed. you know, I, to be honest, haven’t been in a leisure center in a long time. So give us an example of kind of what your experience might be walking into one of your leisure centers. Yeah, well,

Cresh facilities available, we have the gym so people who are new to exercise can have an induction. We’ve got some fantastic personal trainers across St Albans and Harpenden and then we’ve got various sports within the sites as well so squash, badminton and all the traditional sports that you’d expect. So if I’m feeling a bit timid about starting exercise again, how do…

How would you welcome me? Because I think it can be quite a daunting experience. can feel like you’re going to go into somewhere where everybody’s got the body beautiful and you’re going to feel like an idiot trying to use the machines and so on. How does that, how does it work? Yeah, there’s no need to feel like that. We’ve got some excellent fitness motivators who will sit and speak to you and help you kind of overcome any of those anxieties you may have.

Mix 92.6 (04:05.934)
We can cater for different times of day. So if you feel more comfortable coming at a certain time of day when it’s less busy, we can arrange that. And they’ll just talk you through some basic exercise and relax you into enjoying getting fit. OK. And then what about how I pay for all this? What are your options around me coming in and using facilities and so on? How does that all work?

So there’s a number of options really. We do the traditional membership, so we do a monthly membership. We also do an annual membership. But we also do pay as you go. So unlike some of our other competitors, you can just pay and use it when you like to. OK. Give us a sort of sense of pricing. I know it’s difficult. It’s all probably not exactly one size fits all. But give us a sense. It’s not. Pricing starts from kind of 20.

24.99 and then it goes up incrementally based on what you’re using and how often you’re using it. Okay, that gives us a good idea. Now we’re going to talk a bit more about some top fitness tips in a bit, but we’ve also asked you to choose some music this morning for our Connect 3, which is… Yeah, I think there’s quite convoluted links here to everyone active, but we’re going to play the first track…

from from that now. It is the door. We’re here with James McNulty and Kate Barton. They are from Everyone Active and Everyone Theaters. We’re going to talk to Kate now. Kate, it is panto season but before we get to the pantos themselves, explain to us the the cultural venues that you’ve got here. Yeah, absolutely. So I have the absolute privilege of working at the Auburn Arena in St Albans and the Eric Morecambe Centre in Harpenden. So there are

two kind of fantastic venues that we steward really on behalf of the community to really present some fantastic shows and create some great venues aren’t they? mean really nicely done. Eric Morecambe Centre obviously a bit more modern than the Auburn Arena but and they attract some quite big acts don’t they? Yeah, yeah I think Joe Ditch our contract manager and kind of head of program does a really excellent job in getting some really flagship you know incredible performances to all of them really you know.

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last night, not last night, Friday night we had two sellout events at both theatres. We had Disco for Grown Ups at the Auburn Arena, which was a wild one, and then we had Fleetwood Back at the Eric Morecombe Centre. you know, just… We’re going for the throwbacks aren’t we? really are going for them. We’re such a throwback. I know. It was absolutely terrific to have two completely full sold out shows and two of our amazing venues. yeah, our team just had the best night.

Excellent and then do you similarly to chose? Do you see all sorts of people coming to the theaters? it wide-range? Absolutely. I think it it you know really depends I mean we kind of cater for you know young families and we have younger children There’s kind of lots of children shows and we’ve got very hungry caterpillar coming up Charlie Cook’s favorite book is this week And then you know perhaps your older demographic as well. You know, we’ve got kind of and term it’s coming up and we’ve got you know, some kind of

Yeah, as you said some really great throwback kind of performance as well. So awesome, you know, I’ve seen fantastic comedian cases sold out three shows I think coming up. His next show is in November. But I mean, it’s absolutely brilliant that we can get such such fantastic people through our doors. it is. is. It is brilliant. That must be quite hard work to get those people, is it? I think it is. it is in the sense of that they’ve it’s a relationship, I think more than anything. They’ve got to trust you as a venue that you as a venue will

you know, provide for your audiences, but also your back of house and your artists are also your audience. So every show matters. It matters how you are to your audience. It matters what it’s like getting a ticket and your experience of, you know, being seated in the venue. And it matters for a performer, you know, to have that experience of coming through the stage door and the sound check and the performance. lot goes into it. A lot goes into it. Now we’re to talk in a few minutes time about its panto season.

So we can’t do the yes it is no it isn’t because you’ve already done that one haven’t you? So it is panto season. Some great pantos coming up at the two local theatres. We’re here with Kate Barton, Theatre General Manager from Everyone Theatres and James McNulty from Everyone Active. Now we’re playing Connect Three and we’ve got our second connection to Everyone Active. This is Dead or Alive. Today with us is James McNulty from Everyone Active and

Mix 92.6 (08:45.998)
Kate Barton from Everyone Theatres and we’re talking now about the panto Kate, so, or pantos I should say, so tell us what’s coming up at Christmas. I guess you’re gearing up for it now, are you? I think we gear up for it all year long, but it does begin in earnest really now, now from September onwards honestly. So we’ve got Sleeping Beauty at the Eric Morecambe Centre this year.

starring UK drag race Vicky Vivacious and a fire-breathing dragon so that’s very exciting. hope health and safety are all over that. you don’t want to know the risk assessments I’ve been reading. And at the Auburn Arena we’ve got Cinderella returning this year with Samantha Womack from EastEnders fame and she’s been in plenty of fantastic films and we are very excited to announce a return of Bob Golding. Yes, a local.

A local legend basically and we’ve missed him haven’t we? Well yeah absolutely it’s gonna be just brilliant to have Bob back as a kind of returning dame next to Ian our current dame and just it’s gonna be the duo. honestly think I know it’s called Cinderella but they are just gonna be absolutely phenomenal together so it’s gonna be a real treat for all ages because of their wit I think. And how long are both of these panties on for?

So Sleeping Beauty is running from the 7th of December to the 30th of December and Cinderella is slightly longer run. We’re starting on the 12th of December and we’re running all the way into the 13th of January. I’m always amazed how many people go in that second week of January as well. It’s incredible, isn’t it? Extend the Christmas period, the festivities, you know.

I mean you’ve told us about the fire-breathing dragon I suppose there’s not too many secrets you can give away at this stage. Quite a lot of secrets I could give away about Cinderella but I certainly shan’t. What I will say is we said obviously from a venue perspective you know we meet the cast and we do the kind of Panto marketing days and we do the pre-production meeting where we see the model box we see the design of the set but that is looking I can’t say spoilers but it is looking extremely exciting.

Mix 92.6 (10:50.442)
Alright, now tell us where we can find out more and get tickets and so on then. So our box office is open 10 till 2, Monday to Saturday. So you’re welcome to come in in person or on the phone or of course you can book tickets at any time on both of our websites. Right, okay and we can just search for Eric Morecambe Centre or Auburn Arena. Indeed, you want the exact it’s www.the-emc.com or it is www.auburn-arena.com

Great, so yes, or just search in any good search engine as they say for either venue or either panto for that matter that will come up that way. Now we’re playing Connect 3 this morning and we’re linking it to everyone active. So James, we’re going to talk a little bit now about right, top tips for exercise and getting fit. What would you say your main top tips? Sure, I think the first one is just not being afraid and getting started.

everyone has to start somewhere. Second tip would be to warm up and warm down. And I think training with a friend or training with a partner can really help keep you motivated. think that’s true because everybody has their off days but hopefully they don’t go inside too often, Yeah. Yeah, it’s a good one actually to try and have somebody to motivate you and if you don’t, of course you offer personal training.

Anyway, we do. Yeah, we do a full induction and we’ve got personal trainers. So, yeah, you everyone will be made to feel very welcome. Right now we’ve we’ve been talking sort of Christmas because of the panto Kate and or pantos. And so it’s put me in Christmas mood. So I want to ask you what you’re looking forward to at Christmas.

the panto, always, always, always. But honestly, it’s the joy panto brings for all ages. For a lot of people, panto is their first experience of theatre. They might go when they’re really little and then they might go see West End. For a lot of people, can be a lifelong enjoyment of theatre. It can be born from seeing your local theatre and your local panto, which is really exciting. But I think for me, Christmas is insane and it’s just the best time to be working. Boxing Day is the best day to work.

Mix 92.6 (12:57.774)
throughout the whole year because the whole team are there, you’re all wearing your Christmas jumpers and everyone is just in the best mood. So it’s wonderful. Fantastic, fantastic. And you must love your work because it’s probably your hardest time of work at Christmas. It’s busy. It’s certainly busy. James, what are you looking forward to at Christmas? I think just helping people burn off the Christmas successes. They really enjoy coming to us.

Yeah, like Kate said, it’s just really nice to be that place where people can go over Christmas, enjoy the facilities and get fit for the new year. Alright, that’s great. That’s James McNulty from Everyone Active and Kate Barton from Everyone Theatre. Thanks for being with us this morning.

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